Simon's Blog - Sting In The Tail

Have you ever seen a butterfly with a beard?

Whether you answered yes or no, have a look at this video from the team at the Arundel Wetland Centre.

As you can see, the wetland reserve has had, not one, but two swarms of honey bees in the last couple weeks.

The first one spent a few days on a fence whilst the second swarm appeared as a ‘beard of bees’ on the large wooden butterfly figure in the reserve's meadow.

Thankfully the Worthing Beekeepers Association were on hand to remove the first one, as it turned up right beside a footpath.

WWT volunteer and ex-beekeeper Peter Ashley said “Honey bees usually swarm in July. If you find a honey bee swarm in your garden, don’t approach it or try to scare the bees away. They will eventually move off when their scouts return.”

In other swarm news and Sara Jones also came across one on a recent dog walk.

And finally here's a brilliant photo from Nick Lucas in Ashley Heath who reckons this looks like the bee is trying on a new hat!

If you're buzzing around with a camera and you get a shot you'd like to share, please drop me an email to meridianweather@itv.com or you can tweet me @SimonParkinITV if you're on Twitter.